


The Bargain

by derp2lol (Ihere)



Series: PoliceForcestuck [3]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crime Fighting, F/F, F/M, Murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-28
Updated: 2012-03-17
Packaged: 2017-10-31 21:05:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/348360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ihere/pseuds/derp2lol
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karkat and Jade are working together again to solve this new case, murder. But what is with Karkat keeping important information away from Jade?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The troll officer has been running farther than his diseased lungs should allow him through the thick forest, but the risks are too fucking high. With only his rifle and ammo, the troll’s likelihood of surviving this forest trauma are slim. There is absolutely no light because it’s night, and even though it’s better for his troll eyes, Karkat can only stand so much darkness. Karkat takes a chance to allow a quick catch up for his breath. He wheezes near a bush holding on to his weapon. The exhausted troll hears quick footsteps close to him.

He raises his head to see Vriska squirreling around with her own rifle ready. She raises it to aim for a kill, “Come on out you fuckers!” The spider troll spins around aimed, “I never lose! I will KILL YOU!”

Karkat slows his breath a little, ‘That bitch,’ he thinks, ‘Yelling will only get you killed faster.’ The troll smirks to himself, ‘Well if she’s going to be like that, then I might as well put her out of her misery. She does deserve it after all.’ Karkat lifts his rifle and takes aim straight to the side of Vriska’s head. 

But before the grouchy officer could fire, a shot is rung and Vriska is hit in the back. Blue comes flowing down the spider troll’s back. Vriska falls to her knees screaming, she does her best to hold the tears back. 

“Joooooooohn!” She screams for her final words. After that, Vriska collapses to the forest floor. 

The troll officer stares in horror, “Shit,” he whispers, “The bitch got Vriska.” Karkat stands up from behind the bush, “Well rather her than me.” 

Karkat dashes behind a tree panting for his breath. The back of the troll’s neck is freezing from the crisp forest air. He brings his rifle close to him making sure the weapon is loaded. He wipes the sweat from his brow and wishes for a glass of water. The officer scans the area to make sure that nobody is behind him. “The area appears secure,” he whispers to himself. “How do I get in these fucking situations?” Karkat asks to no one in particular. He makes a mad dash to the next tree hoping to avoid capture. Karkat has done well so far avoiding the enemy, but the others have already been defeated. Now it’s only him and the bitch. The situation is like cat and mouse, and Karkat is not the cat. 

The officer presses his back against the tree. The troll studies the area once more and realizes that his section is secure. Karkat realizes that he has a moment for rest and something else. He breaks out his cigarette pack and lighter, “Like fuck if I’m not going to take a fucking break,” Karkat mutters.

As soon as he flickers his lighter, a shot is run from across the forest. Birds fly away from the noise and the force causes Karkat to hit the back of the tree. Karkat looks at his chest and finds bright red covering his chest, and the red spills over his grey cancer symbol on his shirt. Before Karkat falls to the ground defeated, He has enough time to see Jade in a tree watching him behind her glasses with her rifle aimed at the now doomed officer. The green-eyed human jumps down from the tree smiling over her captured prey.

She positions the rifle to fire straight into Karkat’s face, “Any last words fuckass?”

Karkat lifts his head painfully growling, “Fuck . . . you . . . bitch,” he pants. Karkat slowly closes his eyes and drifts away.

Jade walks over and lightly kicks him in the side, “Wake up! You’re not really dead, idiot.” 

Karkat sighs and opens one eye, “It’s called acting Jade. Get multi-cultured for once.” Jade kicks him harder. “Alright! Fuck, I’m getting up. Just stop kicking me like a dead hoof-beast,” Karkat grumbles pulling himself up from the dirt. The officer looks down at his black shirt with his symbol on it, “Damn it Jade! You got red paint on my good shirt. I really liked this shirt.”

“What did you expect when we go paintballing? Come on Karkat, no one likes a sore loser,” Jade jokes. “I beat you all fair and square.” 

Karkat grumbles, “How the fuck is your aim so great now? When we have target practice, my aim is always better than yours!” 

The female officer rotates her rifle in her hands, “I was trained with a rifle more than pistol. So I’m naturally better with the rifle.” Jade stops playing with her weapon and grumbles to herself, “I’ve been trying to get the chief to allow me to use the rifle, but he’s making me take classes and get a legit permit.”

“Why’s he making you do that?” Karkat asks trying to rub the paint out of his shirt.

Jade answers the troll, “Well . . . I wasn’t officially taught. My grandfather taught me before . .”

“Before the hunting accident?” Karkat interrupts. He finally got Jade to tell him how her grandfather died; which was a hunting accident years ago.

“Yeah, the accident.” She still doesn’t like to talk about it too much.

Karkat scratches the back of his head awkwardly, “Let’s just go back to the base to clean up,” he says walking toward the forest area’s exit. 

Jade grabs him by the shoulder, “Wait, we need to get Vriska.”

The troll officer sighs, “Is she still playing dead?”

Jade looks at him skeptically, “Isn’t that a bit hypocritical? You over-acted just as much.” Her partner waves her response away.

“I didn’t scream my matesprits name when I died like some orgasmic slut,” he counters.

“That’s because you don’t have one,” Vriska responds coming up from behind them making Karkat lose his shit. Her shirt is covered with cerulean paint on the back where Jade shot her, and her hair is covered in grass and some twigs from when she had fallen. 

“Fuck Vriska! What did I say about coming up behind me?” Karkat screeches.

Vriska smirks pulling the twigs and grass out of her hair, “You should have known that I was going to come here. I’m not dead.” Karkat growls.

Jade steps in between them, “You guys please, let’s just go back to the meeting room.”

Both Vriska and Karkat solemnly agree with the human, and the trio walks to the meeting room silently.

The meeting room is a circular room with seats, drinking dispensers, and food boxes all over, with a place for the cashier to sit all placed near the entrance of the forest. They see inside the owner of the area, a mellow yellow troll, who set the place up for paintballing is in the cashier spot, next to the window staring at the moon is Sollux who is holding hands with billionaire Feferi Peixes, and Kanaya who is closes to the door who greets them. Sollux and Feferi are staring at each other disgustingly lovingly with multi-colored paint splattered all over them. 

“That game was simply astounding. Well done all of you.” The jade troll turns to Vriska and pulls out a piece of grass from the spider troll’s rough hair, “You’re performance was especially-“

Vriska pushes her away, “Yeah yeah,” Kanaya face is frozen with a fake smile. The spider troll turns Feferi, “You paying for all of this rich gills?”

Ms. Peixes turns away from her boyfriend surprised, “Huh, Oh yes of coral, I’ve already paid for everyfin completely. Don’t worry,” the wealthy fish-troll turns back to the lisp-y officer to stare into his multi-colored eyes.

Jade pokes Kanaya’s shoulder, “Did you think I did well? I mean I did win this game after all.”

The jade troll’s shoulders deflate, “You did wonderful Ms. Harley.” She turns to sulk over to the exit, “Just wonderful.”

The human officer smiles, “Oh okay!” Karkat watches Kanaya interested in this new interesting development. Jade lights up, “I have a question for all of you; a question about trolls.” All the trolls stare at Jade with slight interest. “Why are trolls so active at night? Like how come Vriska and Karkat feel the need to overact their deaths?”

Karkat groans, but Sollux perks up, “Because those two are douche bags.” 

Feferi pulls on his ear a little annoyed and turns to Jade sweetly, “Seashell, it’s because trolls are naturally more active at night. We have this tendency to soak up the moonlight, quite similar to how humans soak up the sun.” The sea troll grabs her bag of guppy flavored chips, “It’s natural for moist trolls to prefer the night sky than the daylight.” Sollux snickers and whispers to the sea troll, “That was a really bad pun.” She playfully pushes him away giggling. 

“But not all trolls,” Kanaya argues next to the door leaning on the wall. “I prefer the sun more than the moon.”

Vriska looks at her strangely, “That’s really weird.” Kanaya’s attitude deflates, but the blue-blood pays no attention to it. Vriska moves away to the side of the room so she could view the entire group to make a show of what she is saying, “Well I’m afraid that I must say my good-byes, I just have to depart for my dear John.” She cockily waves goodbye and dashes outside where her newly bought shitty car awaits her. From inside the meeting hall, everyone can here screeches of her tires speeding out of the parking lot.

All of the officers looked at each other, Karkat groans, “Fuck it, I’m off duty tonight. That bitch can get ticketed some other time.” The others stand there a little awkward about what just happened.

“Well,” Kanaya sighs, “That was productive.”

Karkat pushes her out the door, “Let’s get out of here.” The rest of the group follows the two out into the night sky. The paintball area is on the borders of the outskirts of Skaia. The diner which Gamzee is inconveniently managing is only a few blocks away, so the crew plans on ending the night there for a midnight snack. Karkat, Kanaya and Jade are walking ahead while Sollux and Feferi stroll together behind passing the individual shops. 

“Kanaya, I have a question for you,” Karkat starts pulling out a cigarette, “Why did you come here tonight?”

The receptionist blushes, “I don’t know what you are talking about Mr. Vantas.” Karkat coughs smoke into her face making her grimace. 

“Fucking bullshit, Kanaya,” the disgusting officer accuses, “You hate sports. You call this one a barbaric sport. No wait, you think all sports are fucking barbaric!”

Kanaya walks straight with her shoulders back looking ahead, “I wanted to expand my boundaries Mr. Vantas.”

Officer Harley crosses her arms, “Stop abusing Kanaya, Karkat. Don’t ruin a nice night.” 

The male troll rubs his face, a habit he has grown around Jade, “Jesus fucking Christ, Jade! You can be so blind at times.” He grabs Kanaya’s shoulder roughly, “Kanaya is feeling flushed for Vriska.” Karkat turns to stare straight into the Kanaya’s jade colored eyes, “It’s a bad idea Kanaya.”

Kanaya looks defiantly at Officer Vantas, “And just why would it be a bad idea Mr. Vantas?” 

“Because she’s already deep red for that human, not to mention she’s a psycho.” Karkat releases his grip on Kanaya, “I’m trying to help you avoid a doomed ending. When John is ever mentioned, nothing else matters to her.” 

Kanaya huffs at Karkat, “Well I’m going to try my best. There’s no telling when that human could wake up, so I’m going to do what I can.” And with that, Kanaya struts off ahead abandoning the group. 

Officer Vantas sighs smoking his cigarette, “I don’t know why I try.” His cigarette extinguishes early causing Karkat to groan. In pity, Jade pulls out her own pack and offers one to Karkat while pulling out her own. The troll lights his and the human’s. 

“You know what Jade?” Karkat questions absent mindedly, “People are always trying to ask me for romance advice. And thanks to the amazing rom coms I watch, I’m an expert. I’ve had people try to get me in quadrants to help them out of their own situations, and I’ve denied them all.” Karkat stops to feel the warmth of the cigarette, “I guess that’s why I chose Gamzee as my moirial, not a lot of romance issue with that one.” 

Jade gives a small smile, “You suffer so much Karkat.”

The troll ignores her sarcasm, “I fucking know!” He gives a thumb point behind him towards the doe-eyed couple, “We had to come with those numbskulls just so Sollux could get that sea-troll to come with him.”

“Well I had fun Karkat,” Jade counters smoking her cigarette.

“Sure you would, but I hate being the wingman to every fucking thing. When will these assholes learn to make their own moves without my help.”

Jade giggles, “I sure Sollux has made many moves on Ms. Peixes.” 

“Exactly! So why do I have to come on these dates.” 

Officer Harley taps her fingers across her chin holding her cigarette with her other hand, “Karkat, we all had to come so Sollux could get the day off claiming to the chief that this is target practice. Now I was surprised that Kanaya agreed to come to convince the chief that we wouldn’t be playing around, but I guess it would make sense if she would agree to spend time with Vriska.” Jade tosses her extinguished cigarette in a passing trash can, “Now with all that in mind, plus the fact that we both owe Sollux for him doing our paperwork, can you really complain for wasting some time doing for his sake?” 

Karkat has nothing to say about that. 

A feminine shriek goes through the night sky starts behind the officers. They quickly turn around and see a wide eyed Feferi holding on to Sollux with all of her might. She stares into an alleyway along with Sollux who is comfortably stroking the billionaire’s hair. 

The duo slowly walk into the alleyway where there isn’t much in there except for a dumpster and an alley cat sleeping in some trash. Walking closer to the dumpster, Karkat can notice a grey, limp arm and hand sticking out of the dumpster. Karkat lifts the lid up and finds a dead troll’s body with bruises all over and light orange blood oozing out of the head. Jade gasps and puts his hand to her mouth to prevent vomiting. She has yet to see a fresh dead corpse in the field. 

Karkat sees something sticking out of the corpse’s jacket, and he cautiously reaches inside the dumpster to grab the item. 

The item is a playing card with a Jack of Spades on it. Karkat stares at the item bewildered, “Shit.”


	2. Chapter Two

A police car and an ambulance come around the corner towards the alley way in the dark of the night. Their bright lights and loud sirens waking the entire block; nearby citizens gather around to see what the commotion is about. Officer Harley waves her hands in the air to signal the ambulance and police car; while Officer Vantas controls the growing crowd, and Officer Captor takes multiple pictures of the crime scene. Ms. Peixes is leaning on the wall making phone calls. 

A young troll boy brings his camera and tries to take a picture of the crime scene, but Chief Zahhak climbs out of the cop car and pulls the camera out of the troll’s hands. “No cameras,” he orders. 

The three officers walk up to their chief, “Good evening Chief,” welcomes Jade. “What is your take on the situation so far?”

The Chief watches as two medics climb out of the ambulance and dig the body out of the dumpster. The body shifts while being held by one of the medics like it is a body filled solely with sand. One of the medics, a human male, clumsily drops the body on the ground causing the head to break open and have some unmentionable orange colored substance ooze out. The other medic, another human, yells at his co-worker to get back to stop fucking around. The Chief daps his face with a towel, “I already called the neighboring shop keepers to come here for interrogations. Did you find anything on the body? Any clues?”

“Not much sir,” Karkat answers, “The body was severely beaten to a pulp, most likely whoever was beating the troll to death continued to do so after the troll was terminal.” Karkat moves his hand into his coat pocket, “We did however find this.” Officer Vantas pulls out the Jack of Spades Card from his coat. Chief Zahhak blinks wide eyed behind his dark broken sunglasses. 

“Well this is certainly interesting,” Chief Zahhak says with a strained voice. The chief grabs the card from Officer Vantas’s hands. “Does this make any sense to you?” He questions holding up the playing card.

Both Officers Captor and Vantas slowly shake their heads no, but Jade questions the card, “Maybe it’s a message from someone? A symbol? Maybe there is something inside the card?” The human officer sighs, “Is there anyone that could relate to this card around town?”

Karkat ignores her questions, “I think that the troll was just a gambler. A cheater. Kept cards up his sleeve.” Officer Vantas breathes deeply, “He probably played with a bad crowd who got upset over losing the game.”

“That seems likely,” monotones Officer Captor agreeing while staring straight through his red and blue lens glasses. 

Chief Zahhak swabs his forehead, “I agree that’s probably what happened. A bad gambler. Case closed.”

Jade gawks at the three trolls, “What are you talking about? There’s no proof! How can you just say that about a case?”

Chief Zahhak frowns, “It would be wise if you would stop being disagreeable. It doesn’t suit you.”

“But-but” Jade stammers.

“But nothing Ms. Harley,” The chief sterns, “The playing card is the proof, and it would be wise for you to agree. We can’t allow you to have any more mistakes, now can we?”

Officer Harley looks around desperately trying to find some sanity with this crew, but finds none. “How can you say that?”

“Chief,” intrudes Officer Vantas, “If it would help the situation, how about Officer Harley and I interview the shop keepers for any information for the case. Then, Officer Harley will happily,” Karkat looks at Jade intimately, “return to her home for a good night’s rest. Agreed?”

Jade stares back at Karkat seriously, “Agreed.” 

Karkat lights a cigarette and puts it to his lips, “Jade, you go get your supplies out of the cop car.”

“Don’t you need yours?”

Officer Vantas sighs, “Not if you have it. Now go!” Jade walks away slowly leaving the trolls, and heads toward the cop car to retrieve her note pad and pen for the interrogation, and just in case, her pistol. Karkat looks over to the Chief.

“You know what to do, Mr. Vantas,” Equius orders under his breath.

“Understood,” answers the officer.

“Good,” and with that, Chief Zahhak leaves the two troll to head to his cop car to depart once Jade is done retrieving her supplies. 

Karkat inhales his smoke deeply, “Jesus fuck.”

“I know,” Officer Captor agrees. “I knew that this was going to happen. I told everyone that it would! And now there’s going to be so much paper work . . .” The officer groans “Why am I doing this again?”

Karkat was going to answer, “Because it’s your duty”, but doesn’t get the chance when a better reason arrives.

“Oh Sollux!” Feferi cries clinging to Officer Captor’s back, “I was so scared, and you are so brave. I was shore that somebody was going to krill us for finding the body.” 

Sollux turns around and hugs the rich sea troll, “I won’t let anything hurt you, Honey Bee.”

“Oh my sweet Guppy.” And then both troll proceed to what Karkat can only describe as disgustingly sloppy make outs. And he is not amused. 

“Get the fuck out of here!” He shouts waving his arms in the air like a manic. Both trolls break apart, but leave Officer Vantas snickering to their selves. “What the hell is wrong with those two?”

“They’re in love,” Jade replies coming up from behind Karkat. “Haven’t you ever been in love before?”

Karkat squints, “Not one where I’d make out in public for people to watch me.” Jade laughs at Karkat’s love life. “Whatever, let’s just get this over with Harley.” Both officers walk to the store owner on the left of the alleyway. 

The owner is a human male who’s quite nervous over what’s happening. He’s constantly grabbing and releasing his shirt out of nervousness. Karkat walks up to him, “What were you doing in the last few hours?”

The human jumps, “I was at home, all my workers leave before me, and I was home for the last few hours,” he answers speeding the words off the tip of his tongue. 

Jade pats the man’s back to calm him down and talks is a soft voice, “Hey, just calm down. Everything’s going to be alright.” The owner calms down and Jade withdraws her hand from his back. “There ya go. Now are there any cameras outside that could record what happened outside?” 

The man shakes his head, “All the cameras are inside my shop and there’s no view of the outside.” 

Officer Harley smiles slightly, “Well I guess that’s all we can do for now. You can go home and have a safe night.” The man smiles brightly and leaves quickly. 

“That was stupid,” complains Officer Vantas. “I’m going to interrogate the next one.” 

The next store owner is a light-blue blooded female troll. She’s running her fingers through her short hair complaining about all the people around here; even though the crowd has been shrinking quickly since the body was taken away. 

She started to speak as soon as the officers got close to her, “There you blokes are. About time, I’ve been waiting with this crowd of hooligans forever! I’m sure one of them is going to piss on my store.” 

Karkat sighs, “It just had to be you. I always get the worst ones,” he mutters under his breath. Officer Vantas speaks up to the troll owner, “Miss, do you know anything about this murder? Anything at all?”

The owner blew air out of her lips, “pff, No. I wish I had some way of catching this fucker. My business is terrible as it is. I wish I knew before that selling hand-made bags was a shitty idea. And now no one is going to want to come near to this place with the threat of murder in the air. But enough about my life, that’s what my moirial is for, how close are you to solving this case?”

“Pretty much solved,” Karkat answers bored finishing his cigarette. 

Jade tries to speak to the troll, but Karkat throws his hand over her mouth, “That’ll be all miss. Have a nice fucking night.” Officer Vantas then proceeds to pull his fellow officer away from the owner who leaves grumbling. 

“What the hell fuckass?” Jade growls, “Let go of me!” She jerks her arm away from Karkat. 

“Look,” Karkat glares at Jade, “You got your fucking interrogation. Now go home and let this case go. I’ve already solved it.”

“Karkat,” Officer Harley warns.

“Jade,” Officer Vantas mocks.

“Karkat you are an officer under the Skaian law,” Officer Harley argues. “What is with the others? How can you just let this go?”

Karkat pulls out a cigarette, “Jade, we did what you wanted, now give up.” 

Jade looks around trying to find something close to reality, but she gives up and starts to walk home. Officer Vantas calls from behind her, “Have a nice fucking night!” Officer Harley flips him off as she walks away.

Karkat sighs and tosses his cigarette down and starts a new one. He walks off to a direction that is definitely not towards his house, but it is toward the worst parts in town. Officer Vantas rolls his neck to stretch it out, “This is going to be a long night.


	3. Chapter Three

Officer Vantas walks through the dark grimy streets alone; his coat zipped all the way up to hide the red paint on his shirt. The smell of musk and sewage is strong and reeks pass his cigarette smoke. Karkat hacks at the filthy air; it makes his own smoke smell like air freshener. A quick glance to the street’s gutters and anyone could see the pests running back into the sewers escaping the felines’ meal. 

A shrill whistle grabs Karkat’s attention; the troll officer turns to see two females, a yellow troll and a human both in scandalous cloths continuously call for Karkat’s attention whistling and doing deliberate wardrobe malfunctions. “Hey baby! Wanta fill a bucket? I’ll try anything once . . . or five times.” “I can fill any quadrant you want. Whichever one you want. Fuck, I’ll fill multiple quadrants for ya’ at once.” “Are those nubby horns misleading? I sure hope so!” “Do those teeth cut skin? I’m into that!”

Karkat sighs, this wouldn’t be happening to him if he was wearing his uniform; instead he has his favorite shirt that’s still covered with this fucking paint covered by his coat. He doesn't even have his gun because where he’s going it will just be asking for death. The prostitutes continued to cat call him, but the officer yells back at them “Whores! Get back before I claw your fucking eyeballs out with my own two hands and then serve them to the critters for a healthy and nutritious meal. And after that I’ll feed their feces to you and say its chocolate! Oh what a fucking surprise you’ll be in for.” 

The prostitutes just stare at him dumbfound, the human yells back “You must have not had it for a long time if you’re this much of an asshole!” The females snort at him. 

A hand grabs Officer Vantas’ shoulder from behind, “What the fuck?” Karkat shrieks. The officer turns around to find an exhausted sea troll who is shaking in his tear stained but extravagant clothes. 

“It’s you,” the sea troll snarls.

Karkat finally recognizes the sea troll, “You’re Eridan, Eridan Ampora. The douche who was dating that rich sea troll.”

Eridan puffed up, “You shut your glubbing mouth, land dweller! Feferi is better than you in every way possible.” Eridan sniffs and blows into his cape, “We had dreams, dreams to destroy all life on land and rule the rest. It was beautiful.”

Officer Vantas raised one eyebrow suspiciously smoking his cigarette, “She felt the same about those dreams?”

“Of course!” Eridan exclaims confidently, but then the sea troll backs down from his claim. “Well I never really told her about them, and she was always interested in the fucking land dwellers.” Ampora sniffs again, “Maybe its best that we broke up. There is more fish in the sea . . .” He makes suggestive eyebrows wiggle towards Karkat.

“Fuck no you nooksniffer,” Karkat replies immediately gagging at Ampora’s proposition. “Why don’t you go to those sluts, they’ll take anything.” The officer points to the prostitutes that were watching his conversation with the sea troll.

“Eww, don’t tell him that, Nubby Crotch,” the woman shouts, “He’s already come on to us, and no amount of money will make us do what he wants.”

Eridan shakes his fist at the prostitutes, “Shut up you fucking land dwelling sluts!” The females cackle at the sea troll, and Officer Vantas walks away as quietly and quickly as he can. 

Karkat is able to get away from those three without notice. After eight minutes of walking through the streets, Karkat finds his destination. A door that is stuck in the middle of two larger buildings has a small hanging sign saying “The Playing Cards;” which picture the four aces of a deck of cards. Officer Vantas ditches his finished cigarette and knocks on the door with four short knocks. 

A slide in the top of the door is pushed aside to reveal a pair of yellow troll eyes with amber irises, “What do ya’ want?” The troll roughly asks. 

The officer clears his throat, “I am Officer Karkat Vantas and I need to see your boss.” 

The troll’s eyes go wide, “Yes, yes you may come in Mr. Vantas,” he quickly says. The door is opened and Karkat walks in to find an amber blooded troll bodyguard dressed completely in a black suit. He has entered a small hallway that is dimly lit, and allows no other light into the room. The troll officer notices that the bodyguard keeps his gun ready at hand next to his side. “Mr. Vantas, if you don’t mind,” The bodyguard requests spinning his fingers around. 

Karkat sighs but turns around and spreads his arms and legs out. The bodyguard does a quick pat down on the officer and stands back up straight, “Thank you Mr. Vantas for following our code. The boss will see you now. Please follow our escort.” A smaller human male in a similar black suit suddenly arrives to escort Karkat. The officer follows the small human through the building.

The building is a club-liked round room loaded with people. There is a small section where a band plays and another for customers to drink their sorrows away. But the majority of the room is filled with slot machines and other gambling devices. Females and males are hired to flirt with trolls and humans that are having a lucky night to throw them off their game, or steal their money. The small man takes Karkat up the stairs so they reach the second floor and don’t have to go through the chaos of gambling. Looking down, Karkat can see a small struggle between a drunk and the bar tender. The drunk is quickly restrained and sent to another room to be thrown out if he is lucky enough to escape violent punishment. 

The small man in the black suit stops and presents Karkat to a fancy door with a single spade on the front. The man leaves the officer alone, and Karkat knocks on the door and hears a rough “Enter.” 

The officer slowly opens the door to a large extravagant office room where only a man with the darkest human skin in a black suit and hat sits at his desk going over some paper work. The room has black wallpaper and a dark wood floor with portraits of the dark man all around with gloomy expressions. He looks up and notices Karkat, “Good evening Mr. Vantas. I didn’t realize that you were going to join me this evening.” The man settles his paper, “Now are you here for business or pleasure?” 

Karkat squints his eyes while walking over to the desk across the room, “Business and you know why.”

The dark colored man gives a sly smile, “I don’t know what you are talking about.” 

“Slick we found a body with your fucking calling card on it. You didn’t even try to cover it up!” Karkat says a little loud.

The man called Slick grimly chuckles, “Oh that, well it just an investment that was failed to be paid back. Idiotic fuckers.” Slick grabs his letter opener and twirls it a little, “And I just didn’t cover it up because I just don’t fucking care.” He points with the dagger to the chair that Karkat is standing next to. The officer gets the hint and sits down.

“Slick we had an agreement,” Officer Vantas says a little anxious leaning forward in his chair. “We’ve been paying you to keep on the down low. You can’t just dissolve our agreement!”

“Actually I can, Mr. Vantas.” Slick shows his sharp teeth in a grin, “I’m tired of this fucking compromise. So is the rest of my crew. We don’t like being restrained.” 

“Slick please,” Karkat begs, “The department has put good money into keeping the Midnight Crew from running havoc on Skaia. The budget cuts barely keep us working. And all to keep you satisfied.” 

“Times are changing Mr. Vantas,” Slick sighs looking back on the old times. “And so is our agreement.” The leader of the Midnight Crew looks down annoyed, “It the fucking Felt. They’re expanding their borders thinking we’ve gotten soft. So we have to show them what we do to fuckers who think they can beat us. Need to remind them that we are the Midnight Crew and this is our fucking turf.” 

Officer Vantas rubs his face, “The Felt is back? I thought you guys drove them out.” 

“They came back.” 

Karkat groans, “Fuck. Please reconsider this Slick. We’ve been working together for a long time. We’ll show support to you and not the Felt. Please don’t destroy our agreement.” 

Slick runs the dagger across his index finger watching red blood flow, “Here’s the thing Mr. Vantas, you’re in no position to make decisions.” Slick uses the blood to smear on a letter, “If it gets out that the Midnight Crew, even temporarily, had control over the Police Force Department, then you’re never going to be trusted to protect Skaia ever again. The town will go to chaos.” 

The officer looks through his tired eyes, “Don’t destroy the bond. It’s the only thing protecting this town.” 

The dagger has a small stream of Slick’s red blood on it, its owner bring the dagger to his lips and licks the blood up. “The Crew has been thinking lately, and we’ve remember what we used to keep to the heart. We are better than you.” 

Karkat gulps, he thought that this idea was forgotten, but he was wrong. The Midnight Crew are indeed human, but have evolved further than normal humans. They are a new and growing species of humans. There are two types of this evolved human: white or black. The white evolved humans are the palest of any type of skin with black eyes, and the black have dark skin and white eyes. This evolution created a belief that the evolved are the alpha humans, and the ones that are not evolved are not worthy. Certain members of this alpha species believe that they must crush those below them. The blacks are especially strong with these beliefs; especially one Spades Slick. The whites however are the exact and extreme opposite; they go so far to accept half-bloods.

“Slick, don’t destroy this agreement because of some conspiracy,” Officer Vantas begins with the most desperate eyes he can pull up.

Spades taps his chin thinking for a moment, and he leans forward, “I’ll give you an opportunity to redeem yourselves. Double the amount of money and pay us in our usual sport tomorrow when the sun has set. Then you can consider the agreement reestablished.”

Karkat sighs but is still worried, “I don’t think we have that much money, Slick.” The mafia leader raises an eyebrow. “But we’ll get it and I’ll deliver it myself,” he sputters. 

Slick looks across his desk straight into the troll’s eyes serious. Then he breaks a smile and mutters, “Well then we have an agreement.” He pulls a box out from his desk and opens it for Karkat, “Have a cigar. Finest you can get.” Karkat cautiously takes a cigar and puts it into his inner coat pocket. The leader stares at Karkat’s revealed red stained shirt, “You should clean that up, Officer Vantas. People are going to think you got in a fight with a human. Not the best reputation for an officer of the law. Or worst, they’ll think you’re a half-blood shit-bag.” The man cackles at this joke and Karkat half-heartedly joins. 

Both males stand up from their chairs and shake hands. Officer Vantas leaves heading towards the door but stops when Slick shouts, “I’m glad we didn’t have to get violent. You know how the Crew and I love a good stabbing. Keep that in mind for the future,” Slick twirls his dagger that still has a faint stain of blood, and then he stabs it into his pile of paper work grinning. 

Once outside of the office, Officer Vantas shivers from the adrenaline rush telling him to get the fuck out of there. He rushes out of the club/casino as fast as he can without looking at anyone or anything. When he reaches the night air he takes a deep breath to calm his nerves. 

Karkat starts heading towards his apartment longing for his bottle of whisky to calm his nerves. He settles for now with a fresh cigarette, throwing the cigar into the gutter for the pests.


	4. Chapter Four

Inside of a messy bed, a hangover officer pulls himself out of bed. Karkat Vantas is in his room and he had forgotten once again to close the fucking blinds, so the fucking sunlight is waking him up again. Groaning, the officer stretches himself in his bed and gets up. Only in his boxers, Karkat drags himself into his bathroom where he turns the hot water on, and then he strips his remaining garment.

The officer stands inside of the shower with hot water smacking his back without even cleaning himself. With a hangover, Karkat believes that the best way to get over it for him is by a hot shower, please notice that this is false and Karkat realizes that it is later, but he has a hangover so he’s not thinking clearly. He stays in there for ten minutes before the shitty shower runs out of hot water and quickly switches to ice cold. Freaking out, Karkat jumps out and grabs a towel to wrap himself around. Below him, Karkat can hear his troll landlords yelling at each other, again. He really should consider reporting them, but they pay him cheap for a half-decent apartment.

The troll looks at himself in the mirror, through his bloodshot eyes he can see himself through a little bit of steam. He has never thought of himself as strong or attractive really, he relies on his brain more, but he can admit that he looks somewhat handsome. Karkat gives credit to his ex-wife; before asking her out he tried working out more but he doesn’t have the body structure to get real abs. The best he had was a tone belly, but now he’s let himself go a little so he has a little bit of a stomach popping out. He figures if he didn’t smoke so much then he could work out more, but you have to choose your priorities. 

Sighing Karkat brushes his hair; which is useless because no matter what it sticks out in different directions. Nonetheless, he runs his fingers through the rough strands to calm his headache. Karkat grabs his toothbrush and brushes his sharp uneven teeth without toothpaste. He spits and looks once more at his reflection. 

His eyes are the biggest worry Karkat ever had about his appearance. When maturing, a pure-blood troll will have their eye’s change color to their blood type. When Karkat noticed his, he realized that his own blood would be exposed for everyone to see. With this in mind, Karkat looked up several ways to darken his eyes to a normal maroon color. The best and easiest way was to take up smoking, but this was supposed to be a rumor started to keep trolls from smoking. The fear worked especially for the high bloods who were the worst smokers. However Karkat started despite it being a rumor at a young age in hopes that he could avoid any type of detection; the only people who did know Karkat’s blood color at the time were the people who ran the care house that Karkat stayed at. White Alpha humans easily accepted Karkat into the family. 

Karkat spent a decent portion of his time getting money to pay for a pack of cigarettes with the slight hope that they’ll change his eye color. Surprisingly enough, they did change his eye color. No one knew that Karkat had bright red blood; except for the owners of the care house, but they would lie about it for Karkat’s sake. With maroon eyes, Karkat was able to join the police force academy and leave his home to join Skaia. True, sometimes Karkat misses his home at the Capital, but really he doesn’t. It’s easier for him to sneak around here.

The young troll officer was worried about his secret being found out; even more so once he found out the Chief of Skaia is a prestigious blue blood. Karkat thought he could hide it, but once during training practice when Officer Pyrope was sparing with him, she broke his nose and caused a nose bleed. She saw his blood and went wide eyed. The male troll had to beg to his chief to keep him on the force saying that he wasn’t a half-blood. The Chief didn’t like it, but due to law suits about blood discrimination, he had no choice but to keep Officer Vantas. 

Chief Zahhak tested Officer Vantas with a series of cases that went from boring to impressive. Karkat was able to prove himself to the Chief and became ranked high in the department. Everyone in the department knew about Karkat’s blood color, but promised to keep it a secret out of sheer respect for the mutant troll. 

The Chief allows Karkat to smoke to keep his secret around civilians, but wishes he wouldn’t do it so much inside the department. The issue with Karkat smoking is how addicted he’s gotten, and the worst part is Karkat didn’t know if it’s because of the nicotine, or because he wants to keep his blood hidden. 

Karkat still doesn’t know to this day which is which. 

Whatever the reason is, Karkat grabs his cigarette pack and heads outside with his wet hair freezing in the air. He walks to the shitty café across the street to get his over-priced, shitty cup of coffee. Fuck off to anyone who thinks he’ll get through the rest of the day without it. Walking towards the department, he keeps his arms close to him with his hands in his jacket and a cigarette sticking out of his mouth smoking. Technically he should have a briefcase to hold all of his stuff, but he doesn’t have the money and he leaves his stuff in the department and has Sollux do the paper work.

The officer pushes passed the doors with his cigarette and coffee cup and tries to get passed the receptionist, but fails like he always does. Kanaya directs a short “Ahem,” towards him. 

Karkat turns around and smashes the cigarette in the ash tray. He starts to leave again, but stops to look at Kanaya, “Are you still fucking pissed?”

Kanaya picks up the ash tray and dumps the ashes in her small trash can, “No, I know you were only thinking what the best was for me, Officer Vantas.” The receptionist sighs and fiddles with her pen, “But I wish you wouldn’t.”

Karkat leans closer to the receptionist confused, “What are you talking about? I give the best advice concerning romance! You fucking know that.”

“Does that explain your marriage?” Karkat growls at the receptionist’s personal insult. “I’m sorry Officer Vantas, I spoke out of turn. But try to understand what I’m going through, I’m almost sixteen sweeps old just like you, but I haven’t gone through one successful flushed romance. So when I see a beautiful troll my age that is in a red relationship with a human that in a coma, not to mention troll-human marriages are hard to accomplish because of how unpopular they are . . . Can you really blame me for trying?”

Officer Vantas sighs rubbing his face, “She’s dangerous Kanaya.”

“I don’t care Officer Vantas,” the receptionists blurts out, “I want something for myself.” Sighing, Kanaya pulls out a cheesy romance novel featuring a human and rainbow drinker falling in love. “Why can’t life be like this for me?”

Rolling his eyes, Karkat walks away from the day dreaming jade blood. “I always knew those books could damage the brain cells,” he mutters entering his workplace.

Officers Harley and Sollux, along with Vriska are sitting at their desk watching Karkat. “Bad night, Karkat?” Vriska snickers. Karkat sits in his chair and rests the half-drunk cup of coffee on his desk.

Jade leans over her desk to look closer to Karkat’s eyes, “You have a hangover! Karkat this is not appropriate for the workplace!” 

Karkat glares at her through his tired eyes “Shut the fuck up Harley. You don’t know the night I went through.”

“But-“

“Officer Harley,” Sollux interrupts, “Let it go.” The officer turns to Karkat, “The Chief wants to see you immediately.” 

Groaning Karkat gets up, “I figured as such.” And he walks to the Chief’s office. 

Leaving he can hear Jade whispering in disbelief, “What’s with him? He’s acting so strange. He used to try anything to get out of a meeting with Chief Zahhak.”

Karkat lightly knock on the doors and hears a short “Come in,” from his boss. Officer Vantas walks in and sits in the chair facing Chief Zahhak across his desk. “What’s the damage?” the Chief asks immediately.

“They’re restless. The Felt is making a comeback. They want us to pay double tonight to keep them happy.”

Chief Zahhak shakes his head tired, “Alright, I’ll dig through our budget and see what comes up. You can leave early and carry out the deed. Understood Officer Vantas?”

Karkat looks through his tired eyes, “Yes sir.”

“Good.” The Chief lowers his sunglasses a little to look closer at Karkat, “I allow you to smoke on the job, but please don’t drink before a making a big deal with the Midnight Crew.You may go now.”

“Understood sir,” Karkat gets up from his seat and heads toward the door.

“Karkat . . . “ the Chief quietly calls. Karkat stops walking immediately surprised because his Chief has never before called him his first name. “Thank you for doing this. You are and always will be a valuable member of the Skaia Police Force.” 

“Thank you sir.” 

The rest of the day is spent with Officer Harley constantly pestering her partner over what happened last night and with the Chief; with the assistance of Ms. Serket. Officers Captor and Vantas spent their time doing paper work in nervous silence.

When the time arrived, Karkat gets up from his seat and heads to the exit where Chief Zahhak hands the officer a suitcase in silence. Jade curiously watches from behind. 

Karkat exits the department and heads toward the worst part of town again. He also does not have a gun, again. He ignores everyone around him and strokes his tie nervously. Officer Vantas eventually comes up to a small dark alley when the sun is setting. 

Breathing deeply in and out he awaits the Midnight Crew who only arrived once the sun was fully set. “Hello Officer Vantas, it is a pleasure to see you again,” Spades Slick welcomes in front of his crew; which is three other Blacks that vary greatly in size, but all sport similar attire that only differs with symbols. “Do you have the money?” 

“Of course Slick. Exactly five hundred thousand dollars in untraceable cash,” Karkat holds out the briefcase when the shortest Midnight Crew member, Clubs Deuce waddles across to grab the money.

“I enjoy doing this business with you Officer Vantas. You make it a lot less fucking painful to earn respect,” Slick grins when Deuce is close to retrieving the bribe. 

“Freeze!” A female voice shouts from behind Officer Vantas, “You are all under arrest!” 

Karkat turns around quickly and sees Officer Harley holding her pistol ready towards the gathering. The Midnight Crew all withdraw their own weapons quickly and aim and Jade. She gulps surprised. 

“Oh fuck Jade,” Karkat breathes out quietly.


	5. Chapter Five

Officer Vantas struggles being in the middle of gun shots, “What the fuck are you doing here!” his voice strains.

His fellow officer keeps her pistol steady waiting for someone to fire, “Well I thought I was going to arrest an officer who had gone on the wrong side of the tracks, and I still will so don’t try to stop me!” 

Karkat smacks his face, “You idiot! I’m not betraying the police force!” An abrupt cough behind Karkat makes him turn to find the mafia leader getting bored again. 

“You know what, last time I checked, I wasn’t some little shit that could be ignored.” Karkat gulps nervously. “Who is this tramp?” he asks walking with his gang towards Karkat and Jade. The human officer walks slowly closer to Karkat. 

Officer Vantas keeps Jade from walking too close to the Midnight Crew, “I’m sorry Slick. This is my partner Jade Harley.” 

Slick gets a little repulsed along with the rest of his crew, “I didn’t realize you swung that way, Officer Vantas. I think I’m going to puke.” 

Karkat’s eyes get a little wide, “What no! NO no no no no no! We’re working together in the department!” The embarrassed officer that is trying his best not to blush turns to look at Jade who is blushing very hard looking at the ground. “I’m just helping her because she’s a rookie.” 

The mafia group relaxes a little, “Good. We wouldn’t want something bad to happen because you decided to tango and make something similar to puke with a seizure,” Slick threatens. 

The troll officer gives a fake laugh, “Yeah that would be fucking terrible.” 

Jade grabs his shoulder still with her pistol ready, “What’s going on Karkat?”

Slick interrupts Officer Vantas to answer, “As a rookie I guess you wouldn’t know, but you need to work fast, kid. Now drop the gun and slide it over here.” Seeing no other choice with four guns pointed at her, Jade carefully places her gun on the ground and kicks it over to the Midnight Crew who don’t pick it up. The Crew returns their own guns to their coats. Slick snaps his fingers, “Deuce, take the fucking money.” The shortest member swipes the briefcase from Karkat’s hands and rejoins the group. 

The human officer watches as the small Black takes the briefcase from Karkat, “This isn’t right Karkat.” 

“You don’t understand what’s going on Jade, so shut the fuck up,” her partner sighs.

“Interesting,” smugly says Slick walking slowly closer to Jade, “What are you in your twenties? A bit young. Well since you’re Officer Vantas’ partner in the department, I believe we’ll be seeing more of each other.” Slick stands in front of Officer Harley only barely looking down on her. He roughly grabs the bottom of her face, “I will enjoy these meetings, Ms. Harley you little bitch.” 

Without thinking Karkat moves his hand to pull Slicks’ away from Jade’s face, but before he can touch the leader, the largest heartless brute punches Officer Vantas in the face on instinct of protecting his leader. The troll slams into the brick wall and falls to the floor. With barely giving a fuck, Slick turns away from Jade to look down at the fallen officer. 

He clicks his tongue, “Officer Vantas, you should know by now that Boxcars doesn’t like a threat of any sort.” He snaps his fingers at the brute, “Down you. Be nice to the troll. Friend. He’s friend.” Boxcars backs away from the pained troll and joins his brothers. Slick gives Karkat a swift kick, “Get back up. Show some fucking dignity officer.” 

Karkat groans leaning on the wall; he slowly picks himself up while shaking. He turns around to face the Midnight Crew, and they gasp; Deuce even vomits on the side. 

Officer Vantas is bleeding all over his face with shiny red blood.

Slick stares at the troll trying to hold back his revulsion to the officer, “Droog, is that what I think it is?” 

The remaining Black, second tallest in the group walks hesitantly closer to troll. He pulls his blade out and slits his own hand. Fresh, red blood comes pouring out and Droog compares the blood. “Exact same shade boss,” Droog backs away from the troll slowly.

“I swear I’m not a half-blood!” Karkat desperately says coughing up red blood looking up at Slick.

Nostrils flaring, Slick turns to his biggest member, “You know what must be done now half-blood.” Slick walks away from the bleeding troll as Boxcars readies a punch. Jade moves to stop him, but Droog moves fast enough to hold her back. Officer Harley can only watch as her partner is beaten.

This is close to one of the most painful experiences Karkat has ever faced in his life. Organs are bruising, bones are breaking, his skin is acting as the sack to keep everything inside; except for the blood that is. But one of the worst things there is about this situation, is there is no hope for a savior. Just Jade Harley watching it all in terror trying to keep the tears inside to stay strong. 

When Boxcars is done, he backs away and Droog lets Jade go. She runs to the troll to make sure he still is alive, and thankfully he is. Boxcars looks at his bloodied hands and grunts towards Droog who has a handkerchief ready for him. When the blood from his hands is finally gone, Deuce burns the soiled fabric. 

Slick looks down on the partners, “We will no longer be doing business with the police department.” The boss spits on the troll and the Midnight Crew walks away, still carrying the briefcase full of five hundred thousand dollars in untraceable cash.

Jade reaches her cell phone and tries to call for an ambulance, but Karkat slowly reaches up with a bloodied hand to stop her, “Don’t . . . call” he groans. 

“But-“

Karkat wheezes “Take . me . . to . . .Equius” 

Officer Harley nervously looks around for help on the situation, but ends up hoisting Karkat up with one arm swung over her shoulders and helps carry him out of the alley. A rare taxi that Karkat never has enough money to pay for comes by, and Jade makes it stop. A perky White turns grey from seeing an injured troll and insists they go to the hospital, but Jade obeys Karkat’s request and pays to go to the department. 

During the drive, Officer Vantas tested to see what worked and what didn’t. Sadly, not a lot was working right now. Jade watches Karkat upset, “I’m sorry Karkat. I didn’t know what was happening.” 

“No shit Harley.” Karkat pulls out his box of cigarettes which are sadly smashed; he tosses the container away and looks at Jade with a little more strength gained, “I was hoping we weren’t going to have this conversation so soon. I wish I had fucking prepared more for this.” He takes a deep breath, “Jade, there comes a time in every officer’s life where they have to make the worst fucking decision in their life. It varies from for each officer. For me I had to decide whether to work with the Midnight Crew or not.”

“You mean bribery?” Jade says skeptically. 

Officer Vantas sighs, “I know it’s not the best way, but look at it this way, what is our job as police officers?”

“To protect and serve Skaia.” 

“Exactly. So when we have the option to save lives that only cost so little in comparison. You can bet we would fucking agreed to the deal.”

“And the Chief agreed to it?” 

“Yeah, in fact he said there are some deals that just need to be made to protect the greater good. It was really weird too because it sounded like he had to go through something similar in his own past. But like I said, every officer has to make this decision.”

“But you’re doing something completely against the law!”

“Jade,” Officer Vantas breathes out, “What’s more important, the law or the people? There’s just some battles that need to be let go.”

Jade doesn’t answer but smacks her forehead, “I’m sooo fired.” She looks at Karkat seeing the damage he’s in, “Sorry I know that it probably doesn’t matter to you too much, but I really liked this job. I wanted to help people and now I’m going to be fired.”

Karkat rolls his eyes, “No you’re not. We’ve been waiting for this to happen from the start we made the agreement with the Midnight Crew; Sollux was the first one to admit it though. I’ll just say you came by and found me bleeding in the alley.”

“Why would you do that for me? Don’t you want to work alone?”

The troll rubs his face, “As much as I hate to admit it, we need to work together. Besides I owe you for the factory incident.” Jade smiles at him and gives him one of her own personal cigarettes from her pack. 

“Why do we need to see the Chief anyways? You really do need to go to the hospital, Karkat.”

The troll stops picking the dirt out of his wounds, “Who do you think they’ll take care of first, a possible half-blood, or someone a blue blood admits?”

“. . . Right.” 

Karkat opens the window and tapes his cigarette to get rid of the ashes, “Jade, shit’s going to go down, and we need to be able to trust each other. Can you trust me?” the troll stares into the human’s green eyes.

She smiles and nods at her fellow officer, “I’m sure we can handle anything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please be sure to see the next segment because it’s really important. Also I have important testing coming up for the next couple of months, so updates might not be as fast as before. But I will still try to update from time to time.


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